It is often desirable for patients to lie on platforms or patient supports in which the head portion of the platform has been raised or angled upwardly. Often, to obtain the most benefit and comfort from a bed in this raised position, the patient should be disposed such that the patient's abdomen and thorax are in an elevated position. However, elderly, weak, or incapacitated patients tend to slide or slump from this position toward the foot of the bed, thereby losing the healthful benefits of a more upright position. Many are unable to push or pull themselves back to a more comfortable, upright position.
Elderly, weak, or incapacitated persons in hospitals, nursing homes, or other assisted care settings must often be routinely and periodically pulled up from a slumped position when situated in patient supports, such as beds, carts, and gurneys. This pull-up maneuver is typically done manually by two or more attendants, although the number of attendants required to perform a maneuver increases with the weight of the patient. To return the patient to a position more toward the head of the bed, two or more health care workers may either grasp the patient by the upper arms, or grasp the sheet on which the patient is resting, and attempt to lift or drag the patient toward the head of the bed. This manual lifting may cause strain on the workers' upper and lower backs, as well as possible contact bruises on the patient. These lifting events may be necessary for a particular patient several times in a regular shift, requiring that the procedure be repeated.
A typical patient weighs between 45 and 90 kilograms, although many weigh more. These manual lifting activities often create unacceptable risks of injury to healthcare workers, almost without regard to the number of health care workers used in repositioning the patient. The risks are particularly high when a sufficient number of workers are not available to assist in a patient repositioning event. Injuries to workers' backs account for approximately 50% of worker's compensation costs for work place injuries in the health care industry in the United States.
Since a health care worker often has to bend at the waist to accomplish a patient pull-up, the stresses encountered are potentially magnified well beyond what would otherwise be expected for a maximum recommended lift of approximately fifty pounds. Normally this recommended maximum lift is measured with the lift at or near the worker's center of mass. Extremes in a health care worker's height, either taller or shorter than average, or any weakness in either the arms or legs, may further exaggerate these risks. Thus, back injuries to health care workers are a particularly vexing problem.
Given these difficulties, there have been attempts to mechanize the patient pull-up process. Typically, space is limited in hospital and assisted care rooms. Therefore, a device to effect patient pull-ups should preferably occupy a minimum of space or should be incorporated into the design of existing patient supports. Patient pull-ups are typically performed at frequent intervals and it is usually not feasible to transport equipment to and from a room to perform a patient pull-up every few hours, for example.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,827,642, issued to Huff on Mar. 25, 1958, discloses a device for moving a patient on a bed. The device includes a shaft mounted in ball bearing brackets. The brackets are bolted or otherwise secured to the headposts of the bed. Straps for a fabric webbing are secured to the shaft and a fabric supporting section is secured to the straps. A crank handle is removably secured to one end of the shaft. A patient lying on the fabric supporting section is pulled toward the head of the bed by cranking, and thereby winding the straps on, the shaft.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,929, issued to Crane on Mar. 11, 1997, discloses a patient-positioning device. The positioning device includes a sheet which is placed under the patient and connected to a rope or braided line. One end of the braided line is anchored to a metal peg on the headboard. The remainder of the braided line is threaded through several pulleys. One of the pulleys is attached to a frame assembly. The patient is pulled up when the head portion of the bed is raised or by an independent motor operating to wind the line.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,774, issued to Warren on Aug. 10, 1971, discloses a patient moving device which is attached to hospital beds. The patient moving device includes an adjustable post and clamps for attaching the post to the head of a bed. A winch is mounted on the post. A patient to be pulled up is secured with apron straps and apron tabs are connected to a T-bar. The T-bar is connected to a cable. The winch is operated to wind the cable and pull the patient up. Alternatively, a harness is employed. The harness is arranged under the patient's arm pits and connected to the T-bar before the winch is operated to pull the patient up.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,047 issued to DiMatteo on Oct. 11, 1988, discloses a multiple function invalid bed arrangement for transferring a prone patient longitudinally or laterally between beds or surfaces adapted to accept the patient in a prone position. The longitudinal bed transfer is accomplished by equipping the patient's bed with two rollers, one roller at the head and one roller at the foot of the bed. A bed sheet is connected from the head to the foot roller much like a piano roll. The rollers are rotated to transfer the patient to a second bed which is equipped similarly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,868,938 issued to Knouse on Sep. 16, 1989, discloses a transportable patient mover and moving method. The patient mover moves a patient laterally from a first to a second surface such as from a bed to a gurney. The patient mover includes a bottom stand member and an upstanding support frame carrying an elongated roller. The support frame may be mounted on wheels or casters. One edge of a web-like sheet material is attached to the roller. The other edge of the web material is attached to a clamp. The clamp secures a transfer sheet disposed beneath a patient and the roller winds the web thereon, thereby transferring the sheet and patient thereon.
A need exists for a device which can enable a single attendant to effect patient pull-ups which may either be retrofitted on existing patient supports, or which may be incorporated into the design of future patient supports, such as beds, gurneys, carts, tables, or similar patient supports.